A penny saved is a penny earned...

Submitted by Ben Sholes

Three weeks ago, we distributed a rough budget template sheet to the Fulani men in an effort to help them understand how they were spending their money. Despite the sheet only have two categories (transport and phone credit), the results were pretty clear: they learned that they didn't realize how much money was going toward those two items. Goal number one accomplished!!

Riding that wave of realization, we continued to talk about what that fact means. We discussed about how to look at trends in their week to week spending, how much the total cost of each item compares to their total revenue, and if the items that they are tracking are actually money makers for them. After sufficiently blowing their minds, the universal question that was asked was, "Are we spending too much money on these items?" And, like a smart group, they answered their own question: more categories needed to be tracked! Goal number two accomplished!!

Next week we'll continue with more about money management as well as get into wound management.